1 House of Commons NOTICES OF AMENDMENTS given up to and including Tuesday 15 December 2020 New Amendments handed in are marked thus Amendments which will comply with the required notice period at their next appearance CONSIDERATION OF BILL (REPORT STAGE) ENVIRONMENT BILL, AS AMENDED NOTE This document includes all amendments tabled to date and includes any withdrawn amendments at the end. The amendments have been arranged in the order in which they relate to the Bill. Caroline Lucas Jonathan Edwards Clive Lewis Sarah Olney Liz Saville Roberts Claire Hanna Stephen Farry Wera Hobhouse Ben Lake Hywel Williams NC1 To move the following Clause— “Environmental Principles: public authorities (1) A public authority, must, when exercising their functions (including the making of policy and legislation), act in accordance with the environmental principles currently in effect. (2) The duty in subsection (1) does not apply to policy relating to Wales. 2 Consideration of Bill (Report Stage): 15 December 2020 Environment Bill, continued (3) In this section, “legislation” means— (a) an Act of Parliament; and (b) subordinate legislation.” Member’s explanatory statement This new clause would require public authorities to act in accordance with environmental principles when exercising their functions. Bill Wiggin NC2 To move the following Clause— “Assessment of Plans (1) The Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017/1012 are amended as follows. (2) In Regulation 63 (Assessment of implications for European sites and European offshore marine sites) the following are amended— (a) in paragraph (1) for “must” substitute “may”; (b) in paragraph (3) for “must” substitute “may”; (c) in paragraph (4) for “must” substitute “may”; (d) omit paragraph (5) and insert “In the light of the conclusions of the assessment, and subject to regulation 64, the competent authority may take the assessment into account in deciding whether it will agree to the plan or project”; and (e) in paragraph (6) for “must” substitute “may”.” Bill Wiggin NC3 To move the following Clause— “Phosphates Levels In making decisions on planning decisions, the competent authority can disregard any impact of the potential build and its long-term consequences on the level of phosphates in the water.” Consideration of Bill (Report Stage): 15 December 2020 3 Environment Bill, continued Chris Grayling Sir Desmond Swayne Caroline Nokes Mr Philip Hollobone Dame Cheryl Gillan Mr Andrew Mitchell Mr Ian Liddell-Grainger Andrew Selous Hilary Benn Tracey Crouch Sir Oliver Heald Neil Parish Dr Liam Fox Sir Greg Knight NC4 To move the following Clause— “Protected species: Hedgehog (1) The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 is amended in accordance with subsection (2). (2) At the end of Schedule 5 (Animals which are protected) insert— “hedgehog Erinaceus europaeus”” Member’s explanatory statement This new clause would add the hedgehog to the list of protected animals under the Wildlife and Countryside Act. This would introduce a legal imperative to search for hedgehogs in developments, and a legal imperative to mitigate for them. Hilary Benn Sir Oliver Heald Henry Smith Dr Matthew Offord NC5 To move the following Clause— “State of nature target (1) It is the duty of the Secretary of State to set a target to halt and begin to reverse the decline in the state of nature in England as soon as reasonably practicable and no later than 2030. (2) The target in subsection (1) shall be known as the state of nature target. (3) The Secretary of State must ensure that the state of nature target is met. (4) A draft statutory instrument containing regulations that make provision for how progress toward the state of nature target will be measured must be laid before Parliament at least one month before the fifteenth Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity. (5) Before laying before Parliament a draft of a statutory instrument under this section, the Secretary of State must obtain, publish and take into account the advice of relevant experts, including— (a) The Environment Agency; (b) Natural England; 4 Consideration of Bill (Report Stage): 15 December 2020 Environment Bill, continued (c) The Office for Environment Protection; and (d) The Joint Nature Conservation Committee. (6) In this section— “the state of nature” includes— (a) the abundance and distribution of species; (b) the risk of extinction; and (c) the extent and condition of priority habitats. “priority habitats” refers to the habitats listed under Section 41 of the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006.” Neil Parish Tracey Crouch 2 Clause 2,page2, line 24, leave out subsection (2) and insert— “(2) The PM2.5 air quality target must— (a) be less than or equal to air quality guidelines established by the World Health Organization in 2005; and (b) have an attainment deadline on or before 1 January 2030.” Member’s explanatory statement This amendment is intended to set parameters on the face of the Bill to ensure that the PM2.5 target will be at least as strict as the 2005 WHO guidelines, with an attainment deadline of 2030 at the latest. Tim Loughton Sir Roger Gale Tracey Crouch Sir Oliver Heald 5 Clause 4,page3, line 31, at end insert “, and (c) interim targets are met.” Member’s explanatory statement This amendment places a duty on the Secretary of State to meet the interim targets they set. Secretary George Eustice 6 Clause 6,page5, line 2, at end insert— “(9) In this section “England” includes— (a) the English inshore region, and Consideration of Bill (Report Stage): 15 December 2020 5 Environment Bill, continued (b) the English offshore region, within the meaning of the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009 (see section 322 of that Act).” Member’s explanatory statement This amendment provides that in Clause 6 England includes the English inshore region and the English offshore region. Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown Mr Jonathan Djanogly Mr Ian Liddell-Grainger Mrs Pauline Latham Sir Charles Walker Richard Drax Mr Robert Goodwill Bill Wiggin 4 Clause 16,page10, line 15, at end insert— “(3A) When applying the precautionary principle, the policy statement must comply with the provisions of the regulator’s code and must include— (a) a procedure for identifying and recording risk; and (b) a procedure for identifying and recording the social, economic and cultural impacts of action and inaction. (3B) The policy statement in subsection (3A) must also include instructions for taking into account all activities with an environmental impact on any area of land under consideration and a procedure for ensuring that any action taken— (a) is proportionate to the risk posed by each activity on the land being considered; and (b) balances short term impacts against the achievement of the land’s conservation objectives. (3C) The precautionary principle should only apply in response to risks that are— (a) more than hypothetical in nature; and (b) serious and irreversible.” Member’s explanatory statement This amendment sets out the definition of the precautionary principle when it is used in accordance with the provisions of this Bill. 6 Consideration of Bill (Report Stage): 15 December 2020 Environment Bill, continued Caroline Lucas Jonathan Edwards Clive Lewis Sarah Olney Liz Saville Roberts Claire Hanna Stephen Farry Wera Hobhouse Ben Lake Hywel Williams 1 Clause 18,page11, line 20, leave out from “benefit” to end of clause and insert— “(3) Subsection (1) does not apply to policy so far as relating to Wales.” Member’s explanatory statement This amendment removes the proportionality limitation and the exceptions for armed forces, defence policy, tax, spending and resources from the requirement to have due regard to the policy statement on environmental principles. Secretary George Eustice 7 Clause 73,page63, line 18, at end insert— “and the regulations may provide that a reference in the regulations to a standard is to be construed as a reference to that standard as it has effect from time to time.” Member’s explanatory statement This amendment provides that regulations under Clause 73 specifying relevant environmental standards may specify standards as they have effect from time to time. This power to make ambulatory references will avoid the need to amend the regulations each time standards are updated. Sir Charles Walker Sir Oliver Heald Stephen McPartland Sarah Owen Rachel Hopkins Rosie Duffield Caroline Nokes Sir Graham Brady Steve Brine Tracey Crouch Jon Cruddas Richard Drax Dame Cheryl Gillan Chris Grayling Damian Green Robert Halfon 3 Clause 82,page79, line 22, after “damage” insert “, including damage from low flows” Consideration of Bill (Report Stage): 15 December 2020 7 Environment Bill, continued Secretary George Eustice 8 Clause 91,page91, line 31, leave out “section 154(1) of the Criminal Justice Act 2003” and insert “paragraph 24(2) of Schedule 22 to the Sentencing Act 2020” Member’s explanatory statement Section 154(1) of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 has been replaced by paragraph 24(2) of Schedule 22 to the Sentencing Act 2020. This amendment updates the cross-reference in consequence. Secretary George Eustice 9 Schedule 3,page143, line 38, at end insert— “(aa) explains why the OEP considers that the alleged failure, if it occurred, would be serious, and” Member’s explanatory statement Under paragraph 9 of Schedule 3 the OEP may give a relevant public authority an information notice if it has reasonable grounds to suspect that the authority has failed to comply with relevant environmental law, and it considers that the failure, if it occurred, would be serious. This amendment requires the information notice to explain why the OEP considers that the alleged failure, if it occurred, would be serious. Secretary George Eustice 10 Schedule 3,page144, line 28, at end insert— “(aa) explains why the OEP considers that the failure is serious, and” Member’s explanatory statement Under paragraph 10 of Schedule 3 the OEP may give a relevant public authority a decision notice if it is satisfied, on the balance of probabilities, that the authority has failed to comply with relevant environmental law, and it considers that the failure is serious.